Wasps leave Leeds stinging
Wasps managed to produce an 8-17 away win over Leeds in the Aviva Premiership on Saturday, 31 October.
This consigned Leeds to their seventh defeat of the season and the team has yet to win a match in the league.
Joe Simpson and Flanker Tom Rees got the all important tries for Wasps, while Luther Burrell responded for the home side.
Wasps had reason to be nervous as they made the trip to Leeds. They were badly beaten by Northampton by 37-10 in their last encounter and were missing the likes of England international Simon Shaw through
injury.
Neither side managed to produce any moments of note, until the latter stage of the first half when Simpson produced a rare moment of quality.
The scrum-half picked up the ball from the base of the scrum deep in Wasps own half and sprinted through a gap. The player outpaced the scrambling defence to reach the try line.
Mark van Gisbergen converted to put Wasps into a 0-7 lead, but Ceiron Thomas reduced the lead with a well taken penalty.
Wasps extended their lead in the second half when Simpson popped up a pass for Rees to crash over the line from a few yards out. Van Gisbergen converted the try, but then missed a simple penalty.
The home side managed to get themselves back into the game after a move by Scott Mathie and Henry Fa’afili ended up with Burrell touching down to score Leeds’ only try.
Thomas only succeeded in hitting the post with his conversion attempt and Van Gisbergen settled the match with a penalty to make the score 8-17.
Leeds director of rugby Andy Key believed that his team made to many errors and told BBC Sport, "We had little to show for all our possession and that's probably come down to a lot of unforced errors and
mistakes at crucial times. It really is difficult to put our finger on why these things are happening, because they have to change if we are to get our first win.”
In contrast, Wasps’ director of rugby Tony Hanks was delighted with how his side reacted to last week’s heavy defeat.
"Wasps don't lose games like that last week [at home to Northampton] and emotionally it took a lot out of us. The guys have taken a bit of a battering, but they are their own biggest critics. They've looked
at themselves in the mirror and thought we need to be better than that as a team. I'm pleased with the way we responded, but it has to be a stepping stone towards greater consistency," he said.
Tags: